Cholera outbreak a worrying development

by PDP

28 Mar 2017 at 15:23hrs | Views

The People's Democratic Party is concerned by the recent report of a cholera outbreak which has claimed two lives in Hatcliff.

Despite the fact that the City of Harare is still to confirm that the cause of the two deaths is as a result of cholera, the fact that cholera can be a possibility in the capital is a serious indictment on the leadership.We are of the view that a country with proper leadership must not be exposed to a pandemic of the 19th century.We have seen an unprecedented villagisation of the capital with the deterioration of much of the city infrastructure, the government's failure to respond is a clear indication of the broken politics of the Jongwe building.Women now have to queue for water at boreholes many of which have been declared unsafe by the government, with the authorities purporting to decommission seven of them in the previous week.Recently a crippling typhoid outbreak hit the western suburbs killing many Zimbabweans; thousands of Harare residents also contracting the disease.The public health system failed dismally to deal with the crisis; the hospitals are in a sorry state at some point closing because of a failure to procure basic drugs including basic painkillers.On 2 December 2008 the World Health Organisation (WHO) made reference to the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe reporting a total of 11 735 cholera cases with 484 deaths with all the provinces in the country affected from August 2008. The overall case fatality rate was 4% but reached up to 20–30% in remote areas. Out of the total number of cases, 50% were reported from Budiriro, in Harare.Beitbridge reported 26% of all cases in the space of those five months. Areas like Chegutu (in Mashonaland West province) and Mvuma (in Midlands province) were also affected.Ministries of Health in neighbouring countries also reported cholera cases occurred in Messina (South Africa), Francis town (Botswana) and Guro district (Mozambique) owing to the spill over effect.The details of the 2008 outbreak prove how the incompetence of the authorities can expose many Zimbabwean people including border towns of neighbouring countries.We maintain our point that the current government in the current state cannot keep up with needs of the people and the obligations of the state.We therefore reiterate the need to demand a National Transitional Authority to save our people from another soft genoside.As a matter of urgency authorities must deal with provision of safe, clean and portable water to the residents, which as a matter of fact is a right in terms of section 77(a) of the constitution.Further to that there is need to deal with issues of waste management including refuse collection and sewer management which at the present moment does not deal with minimum benchmarks of protecting water sources from contamination.Our party will soon hold a local government convention which will produce a local governance blue print detailing how a government must run provide service delivery in a modern set-up.Together Another Zimbabwe is Possible